After art school, Simon apprenticed to hand bookbinders in the U.S. and England, studying restoration and conservation of rare books. In 1976 he was invited to head the new apprenticeship program at the Center for Book Arts in New York. While living and teaching there, he created a body of art works, one of a kind books, which are recognized for honoring fine craftsmanship, innovation with materials and for pushing the conceptual boundaries of the field. Among many important public collections, hisTikal Codex, was acquired by the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum of the Smithsonian Institution and was awarded the special designation “first book as art for the permanent collection”.

Toparovsky moved to Los Angeles in 1981. Continuing his experimentations with materials and process, his work with visual books evolved to become narrative sculpture. Working in bronze and cast iron, he has created panels, figures and objects from nature as elements for mixed-media installations that include architecture and landscapes, water and fire. With this work he has designed private gardens as well as large-scale public art projects.

Since the 1970’s Simon’s work has been exhibited internationally and purchased for important collections including the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, in New York; the Getty Center, and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Among his awards, there have been seven grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, including two Visual Artist Fellowships. In 1998, he was commissioned to create the life-size bronze crucifix for the main altar of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels which was consecrated in September 2002.

Simon has been living and working in Los Angeles and Milano since 2000. In 2002 he began a continuing collaboration with Italian painter, Ariel Soulé. This series of projects called “Chiasmo” combines painting and sculpture as one work of art. From this series there have been private gallery exhibitions and three major installations in public spaces: La Costituzione Americanaat the Fondazione Metropolitan in Milano, Evita’s Perfect Fall in the Palazzo Comunale of Teglio and Qui, del Dicibile in Chiesa dell’Incoronata in Napoli. COMBOS are the latest works in this project.